By Sonny Turner and Jean Cole
Limestone County Commission Chairman David Seibert has joined Athens Mayor Dan Williams in denying the Ku Klux Klan a permit to rally around the Limestone County Courthouse Square.
“They called me seeking a permit to rally at the courthouse on Sept. 15 and I denied it,” Seibert said Wednesday. “We give permits for things that foster good will. I’m not sure a rally by the KKK against immigration is for good will.”
Rejection of the Klan’s request to rally Sept. 15 does not mean the Klan cannot rally here.
The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees the right of any group, regardless of popularity, to assemble.
Earlier this week, Williams denied a request by the National Knights of the Ku Klux Klan to stage an anti-immigration rally on the courthouse lawn Sept. 15, the same day the Trail of Tears motorcycle ride will pass through Athens and Limestone County. The mayor said police could not supervise the Trail of Tears and the rally simultaneously. He also called the Klan “a hate group” and said, “We don’t want them here. They are not invited here and we don’t need help with immigration. Athens has come too far to have people like this come into our community.”
Seibert said the Klan’s request to use the courthouse square is not the first to be rejected.
“I’ve denied other requests at the courthouse,” he said. “We had a preacher ask us to hold church services around the square and I denied that because that is not what the courthouse is for. It’s a public gathering place and should be used for events of interest to people.”
Here is what The First Amendment states: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
Limestone County owns the courthouse and must approve any use of it, Seibert said. The city, which patrols the area, actually issues permits to use the area with the county’s approval, he added.
According to Southern Poverty Law Center Web site, different factions of the Klan have been holding the anti-immigration rallies across the country. The most recent rally in the North Alabama area was in Tuscumbia in late May, when members of the National Knights of the Ku Klux Klan and the American White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan held an anti- immigration rally.
